QOL-45. SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH PREDICT NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL OUTCOMES IN PEDIATRIC BRAIN TUMOR SURVIVORS

Pediatric brain tumors and their treatment impact cognition including intellectual functioning (IQ), attention, working memory, and processing speed. Few studies have examined the role of social determinants of health (SDoH) on cognition in pediatric brain tumors. To date, studies have primarily focused on family-related SDoH factors such as insurance status or parental education as predictors of cognition. To our knowledge, no study has examined multiple indicators of SDoH to determine which family-based and community-based predict cognition.

Participants included 151 pediatric brain tumor patients (M diagnosis age=8.82) seen for a clinical neuropsychological evaluation (M evaluation age=13.71). IQ, brief attention (WISC/DAS-II Digits Forward), working memory (WISC/DAS-II Digits Backwards), and processing speed (WISC Coding) were obtained from age-appropriate measures (WISC>6 years, DAS-II<6 years). Family-based SDoH indicators include insurance type (public, private) and maternal education (<high school degree, some college, ≥college degree). Community-based SDoH include the Area Deprivation Index (ADI) and Childhood Opportunity Index (COI). Multiple regressions examined variance in IQ, attention, working memory, and processing speed accounted for by the SDoH measures, after controlling for treatment exposures using the Neurological Predictor Scale.

Insurance accounted for 14.9% of the IQ variance [β=-.316, t(151)=-4.18; p<.001]; COI accounted for 18.3% of the IQ variance [β=.202, t(151)=2.70; p=.008]. Insurance accounted for 12% of the variance in attention [β=-.324, t(152)=-4.22; p<.001], and 17.5% of the variance in processing speed [F(2,134)=15.399, p<.001]. In the working memory model, insurance [β=-.179, t(148)=-2.19; p=.03] and ADI [β=-.171, t(148)=-2.11; p=.04], accounted for 5.3% and 7.5% of the variance, respectively.

Findings highlight the important contribution of both family and community factors on neuropsychological outcomes in pediatric brain tumors. Nuances of the data will be discussed as they relate to clinical care and research.